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A new hydrogen analyzer using a magnetic sector mass spectrometer (MS) has been developed to perform continuous analysis of hydrogen gas concentrations in exhaust gas. This method is insensitive to substances other than hydrogen gas ions and so is not easily affected by the presence of other molecules. In addition, this analyzer has a fast response compared to conventional hydrogen analyzers, which employ other measurement principles. The T90 response time is about 1 second. The minimum sensitivity is few tens of ppm. Because of these characteristics, the sector MS method has significant potential for analyzing hydrogen concentrations in exhaust gas continuously. In this study, the authors performed continuous emissions measurement of several kinds of gasoline engine vehicle in a chassis test cell using the hydrogen gas analyzer in combination with other gas analyzers.

Fuel cell is one of the promising candidates for low emission and high efficiency power plant for the next generation vehicles. Currently, general discussions are focused on from where and how to supply hydrogen to the fuel cell stack in a vehicle. Two major concepts are presented; (1) storing pure hydrogen on-board and (2) use of hydrocarbon as a fuel in combination with on-board fuel reformer system to extract hydrogen. Although the reformer idea seems to be rather complicated than the pure hydrogen, the fuel reformer system is very much demanded, due to the energy density of liquid fossil fuel and availability of fuel supply infrastructure. In the development of the fuel reformer system, gas composition measurements are required to achieve (1) efficient hydrogen extraction, (2) low carbon monoxide concentration to protect PEM stack, and (3) low emission.